On the international stage

In early September, nine of Macau’s fashion design talents headed over to Hong Kong to show off their latest collections at this year’s Centrestage Hong Kong, one of the biggest fashion events in the region.  

 

Held from September 4 to 7 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Centrestage is organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council.  This year’s event featured some 240 brands and more than 40 fashion events, offering a great platform for fashion brands and designers to gain international exposure.

 

With the support of the Macau Productivity and Technology Transfer Centre (CPTTM), the nine participating Macau designers joined more than 80 Hong Kong brands along with international labels from Mainland China, France, Italy, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, the United States and more. Thirty-six buying missions comprising about 1,600 international fashion buyers were organised to visit the event, providing opportunities for designers to interact with the industry and get useful market insights. 

 

“Supporting local designers has been CPTTM’s continuous work for almost 20 years,” notes Victoria Kuan, CPTTM’s Deputy Director General. “Next month during the Macau International Trade and Investment Fair (MIF), we have our own Macao Fashion Festival with a total of six fashion shows.”

 

Victoria explains that in order for local designers to present at Centrestage, they first have to make an application and go through a rigorous three-round selection process, where they need to impress a panel of judges comprised of Hong Kong celebrities and fashion experts, as well as some from New York and around the world. 

 

“We know what the selection criteria are and we work closely with local designers to brief them and help them develop their profile and enroll,” says Victoria. “We have a successful rate of designers joining Centrestage. I think almost 90 percent of our applicants have been selected for this year.”

 

CLOSER met up with all the participating Macau designers on the afternoon of their fashion show and spoke to them about their inspirations for their collections, and their impressions of the event.

 

 

鄭志達 | Vincent Cheang Chi Tat

 

I am very happy to be able to participate in Centrestage again this year and very thankful that they have given our brand the opportunity to showcase our designs. But I think the best part for me is having a fashion show – all the outfits, the beautiful professional models, and to have some good photos and good videos that we can use in our marketing campaign. 

 

In the future, we will add more products like accessories. Before we only did jackets and last year we had watches. Next year we are thinking of adding sunglasses to our designs.

 

I think this year’s Centrestage has improved compared to the previous one because the organisers arranged appointments for the buyers earlier.  And because this is not our first exhibit at Centrestage, some buyers actually made contact with us ahead of time, which is great.

 

 

Simon Kuong

 

Last year we found there were more Southeast Asian buyers, so for this year we came up with more Southeast  Asian  prints and designs. Our design inspiration is always about technology, the new materials combined with fashion, and this year we tried to use more cyber cyo-prints and we received some positive feedback from the buyers. 

 

There were a lot of good buyers this year and being at Centrestage has helped us to explore more opportunities. We are trying to focus on sport suits. Functional businesswear is our niche. 

 

As for our brand, we are trying to focus more on development and materials – materials that are hard to copy. So we are spending more money and time in developing new materials. For example, our suits are all light waterproof, stretchable and iron free and you can machine wash them. These kinds of materials are hard for other people to copy. They may be able to copy the style and prints, but not the material. That’s our strategy. 

 

Our future goals – we are opening our first store in Macau. It’s all set up and ready in Studio City. Then we will probably open three more stores next year in Mainland China.

 

 

梁衍奇，陳小龍

Kris Chan & Inky Leong

 

 

Centrestage is an international platform with so many potential buyers. It took us around four to six months to prepare for each collection and there’s a lot of ideas and inspiration that come from Hong Kong and its culture, and some elements of Macau too. We can see the patterns, and we can imagine the culture of every country. 

Looking to the future, 2020 I think is the age of the new generation. We are planning to talk more about technology and science, as well as communication of teenagers. We have lots of ideas for the coming year. Our brand and design target are teenagers in Mainland China.

 

 

徐曉琳 | Athena Choi

 

This was our first fashion show at Centrestage. Our theme was The War of Goddess, based on the concept that women are new warriors nowadays. They need to take care of their parents, family, children and career. A strong spirit lives inside a gorgeous shell!

 

The fashion show was amazing and the guests gave me very positive reactions and vibes. After the show, some fashion major students came to my booth and asked me about the inspirations for my brand.  I’m really happy and it encourages me to keep going.

 

This was also my first time to have a booth at Centrestage. Everything was very new and fresh for me, so it was very interesting. I made some really good contacts and potential business collaborations with the famous crystal brand – Swarovski, InvestHK and some fashion stylists.

 

 

温少棠，張君萍，黃霞

T. Wan, L. Cheong & E. Wong

 

The concept of our latest collection was inspired by a famous painting The Garden of Earthly Delights. We adopted the colours into our collection and also the silhouettes and the paints. This is a new idea for our brand, as our usual style is normally more neutral and clean cut. 

We are very happy to be back here at Centrestage this year. We’ve been exhibiting for three consecutive years and this is our fourth year. Centrestage has helped us to reach more clients and buyers that we didn’t know before, so this year we had another chance to showcase our latest collection. We appreciate all the efforts CPTTM made to facilitate our involvement is this prestigious event.

 

 

陳慧珍 | Jane Chan

 

This year we are showcasing our latest collection, mainly Loungewear. But in the future, our design style will not only focus on the visual, but also on the sense of smell. For example, when you come close to our shirt with the banana print on it, you can actually smell the scent of bananas. We are experimenting continously. We are also collaborating with other local artists. Recently we worked on a design with one of our local Macau cartoonists.

 

This is the second time for us to present our creations at Centrestage. The first year we came, there were more Singaporean buyers, but this time we have met more local clients and buyers. This is good for our brand. With CPTTM’s support and assistance, we are able to reach out to a bigger market, not just in Hong Kong and other parts of the world, but also Mainland China.

 

 

李明新 |  Lee Ming San

 

ZICS is an Urban Chic Style brand. Our design inspiration comes from the diversity of our city Macau, as well as Hong Kong. I am using my favourite colours – black, grey and white – as the design’s main theme. As a designer, I need to constantly explore, such as trying out layers and asymmetrical styles in my latest collection.

 

My latest collection, HUSTLE AND BUSTLE is more about the city girl, while BLANK is for an after work design, ideal for relaxation and after work activities. For my future designs, I am thinking of adding accessories and also developing a menswear collection.

 

Centrestage is a very good platform which allows designers like me to present our brands. CPTTM is also very helpful in assisting and bringing us to different fashion events overseas, so we get more chances to introduce our creations. I am very grateful for this opportunity.

 

 

劉欣珏 |  Sanchia Lau

 

This is my first time to exhibit at Centrestage and I am very excited.  Meeting many designers from other parts of the world is amazing. I am showcasing my latest sleepwear collection, which is a collaboration/crossover with a Hong Kong artist using the HK/Macau/Zhuhai bridge as a design inspiration. 

 

We also have our sportswear crossover collection with ANIFA. It took us three months to prepare one collection to showcase today, with a total of seven designs.  For the new year, 2020, we will focus on lifestyle designs. 

 

CPTTM helps local artists like me in many ways, from organising events and assisting us so we can introduce our brand, not only in Macau, but also in other cities and parts of the world.

 

 

容鳳霞 | Sanjo Iong

 

Lexx Moda / Liji Alley is a brand that provides quality, style, value and comfort to all our customers. For this year’s Centrestage show, we used more fabric to match the leather and also accessories. We also had a more feminine approach such as Ballerina flats and sandals with different styles.

 

For the coming year we want to focus more on designs for the China and Asian market. We will pay specific attention to fabric and printing.

This is our second time to join Centrestage. We normally go to trade fairs but for this year it is more for branding and promotion. 

 

As for CPTTM, they are doing a great job helping all the designers in Macau. With their continuous support and help, designers like us can then focus more on our brand.  And because we have the opportunity to showcase our creations not just for a specific market but also to a bigger one like China and Asia, we are very happy and grateful.